China's Notorious City Management Officers in Legal Limbo Despite Expanding Role

(Beijing) — In April, an iconic statue of Ronald McDonald that was standing outside a McDonald's restaurant in Guangzhou was torn down and taken away by a group of city management officers for "obstructing a public walkway" after the restaurant ignored calls to remove it, according to the officers.

People learning of the news online were amused by this "arrest" made by city management authorities, better known as chengguan. But anger has been the more common response to these officers because of their reputation for excessive use of force — smashing stalls of street hawkers and demolishing illegal apartment blocks, sometimes without prior warning.